Fondation Saint Dominigue Savio (FSDS) is a Rwandan Non-Government Organisation, created in 2001. The organization has the vision of working for a peaceful and just world and human dignity. FSDS has the following main objectives:
- Promoting education and ICT
- Protecting displaced people and refugees through humanitarian actions
- Protecting the environment and Climate Change mitigation
- Promoting good governance, Media and Culture of Peace
The main activities of the organization are related to the promotion of education, technologies and human welfare mainly in the sectors of: Peace building and non violence; Environment and climate change; Information and communication technologies; Humanitarian actions ; and Democracy and good governance.
In order to be effective and efficient, the organization has a working philosophy that combines holistic, democratic and participatory approaches.
In line with its “Environmental and climate change program”, the goal of FSDS has contributed to the climate change educational, stabilization and environmental promotion and protection. This project implemented by FSDS was designed to improve the well-being of refugees by creating incomes generating activities to reduce deforestation and soil erosion such as construction of improves stoves, terraces and tree planting in and around the camps.
Furthermore, the FSDS has carried out a number of cross-cutting activities in order to improve child and youth protection by setting up the Dialogue and Ideas’ Laboratory Clubs (DILC). These DILC have provided opportunities to equip the beneficiaries with an understanding and skills of preventing and addressing not only the environmental issues but also responding to other challenges such as sexual and gender-related violence (SGBV), HIV- AIDS, early pregnancies and high school-dropout rates for girls, prostitution and survival sex, and psychosocial risks for children, other vulnerable individual, and developing skills training and self-reliance projects for refugees.
FSDS’s Advocacy strategies include media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research or polls or the filing of an amicus brief.
FSDS has partnered with different governmental institutions such as MINALOC (Ministry of Local Administration), MIDIMAR (Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees Affairs). It has also worked with the UN agencies (UNESCO and UNHCR) and DFID (UK- Department for International Development) . The organisation have partnered with local and international NGOs (including TROCAIRE, Pressenza International, ARAMA - Association for Research and Assistance Mission for Africa) and local radios.
